A Letter to One's True Love
by Burg Gurl
Summary: Draco Malfoy writes a heart-filled letter to his long lost Love, Hermione Granger. Note: Semi-graphic Character Death. Please don't hate me ;


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A Letter to Ones True Love-

"My Dearest love,

It's been thirteen years since I last saw your face. No; that's not entirely true. Whenever I dream of you or look at our daughter, I see you and I think about all the time that has been taken from you to be with me and our daughter," The man paused his writing, thinking about the last woman he had ever truly loved.

The Battle for Hogwarts; the Battle of Light and Dark; the Fight for Humanity. The man had heard it called countless names over the years of his life; however, none of these meant anything to him. He would always know it by another name: The Fight That Took My Life Away. She had been his life. For many years, they fought verbally and academically. Every time they passed, words were shared that were none too kind because she was different from everyone else. Her differences caused him to seek her out. At first, it was to cast harmful names, then he found he just wanted to be near her. After a while, the girl took notice of the frequency to which she saw him.

'_Why are you following me? You are always everywhere I look, even though I can assure you, I'm not seeking you out. Do you enjoy tormenting me with your hurtful words?' She had asked, her voice becoming terser. He stared at her as he waited for her to finish her sentence. Seeing her lips, so rosy pink and soft, he felt drawn to her by some inexplicable force. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, he saw fear growing in her eyes the closer that he got to her._

_As he bent his head closer to her, noses nearly touching, he whispered just loud enough for her to hear, 'You really don't need to be so paranoid, Hermione. Things aren't always as they appear.' After that, things began to change between the Slytherin and Gryffindor. Every time Hermione would walk through the halls, he would be watching from the shadows, waiting. Finally, one day at the library, Hermione felt his presence and finally brought herself to ask the question that had been bugging her for the past several weeks, ever since he had said those confusing words._

_'Malfoy, why are you following or watching me?'_

_Draco moved from behind one of the shelves and sat in the vacant seat at the opposite end of the table. Leaning casually back on the chair, he watched Hermione for a few seconds, looking like he was having a difficult battle in decisions._

_'My father doesn't like you.'_

_'Well, that's painfully obvious.' Hermione said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes toward the man that hadn't removed his penetrating gaze since the beginning of the year._

_Draco sighed inwardly. 'My father doesn't like you,' He repeated. 'So naturally, I don't like you.' Hermione began to look like she wanted to say something, but Draco put one hand up to stop her. 'For some reason, however, I cannot stop thinking about you. This isn't the same as third year when you slapped me or even in sixth. I wish I could figure it out, but at the same time, I don't mind it.'_

Draco chuckled to himself from the memory as he turned back to his letter.  
'Back in the day, you were questionable of my intent. I still remember the look on your face when I asked you out. You looked at me like I was insane, even though I had taken several months beforehand to woo you. That day during Potions, I sent you a message with a quote from a poem:

'Half the night I waste in sighs,  
Half the dreams I sorrow after  
The delight of early sky's,  
In a wakeful doze I sorrow  
For the hand, the lips, the eyes,  
For the meeting of the morrow  
The delight of happy laughter,  
The delight of low replies.'

'Your eyes grew so wide. You had no clue that I knew muggle poetry back then. The following seven months were heaven for me, even if we did keep our relationship a secret while you helped Pott...' He scratched that out. 'Harry search for the Horocrux's. While you did that during the day, I was glad for the nights when you would enter our shared common room, exhausted. I can't help but laugh when I remember this because it's for this reason that we found ourselves in a bout of trouble towards the end of the school year. Even today, I am hoping that you know that I wouldn't trade or change that for the world. Lillyanna has grown into a beautiful seventeen year old girl. She doesn't remember you very well, but I have made sure that she has grown up knowing your face and personality. I remember the day that we found out that you were expecting a child. Once I got past the thought of being a father at seventeen, I always knew that I loved you and knew that no matter how many times I said it, it would never be enough. I knew that I wanted you in my life forever, even though we had never discussed it. While we were sitting in the infirmary after Madam Pompfrey told us, I knew I was going to ask you. My only problem was trying to figure a way to make sure that you knew that I wasn't asking you to be my wife just because you were pregnant with my unborn child. I think that that is why I stuttered so horribly and uncharacteristically.

'When you said yes, I thought that my heart had stopped! I'm glad that I was there when you told your friends about us. I was scared, though I tried not to show it, when Harry approached me, staring me down like Dumbledore used to. I remember asking myself if I should put my walls up, but when you grabbed my hand, I knew it would be better if I didn't.

'Our wedding at the end of the following September was something that we would never forget. You looked breathtaking in your simple white wedding dress; you could hardly see the small bump that was the sign of you ending your first trimester.

'Five months later, I looked down into the light blue eyes of our beautiful Lillyanna. The Medi Wizard had placed her in my arms when we both noticed you loosing consciousness after being in labor for twelve hours. When I had first seen the two of you together, eyes closed, I knew that I had never seen anything so beautiful, with your auburn curls and her shock white hair. She had us worried at first when she didn't make any cries after the initial scream from being brought into the colder world. Looking down at her sleeping in my arms, and then seeing you sleeping soundly in the bed we were next to, I finally knew true happiness. Not just what I felt when we were dating or even married; I finally knew what a happy family felt like. I didn't want to let that go, using it to make me stronger for the three of us.

'No one knew how short a time that would last.'

Draco paused for a moment again when his vision became blurry as the memories from the last day of the war came back to him.

'I would never forgive myself for what happened the final day of the war against Voldemort. All through out the three days that we had been separated by our respected sides, I never once stopped thinking of you or Lilly. The only time that I did was when I was with my bastard father or in the presence of_his_ lord. I only was there to keep our family safe, every moment I couldn't be with you, was torture to my soul.

'The final day... I wanted to truly die when I found out that you had been captured. My father had me spied on! When he told me that he knew about you, he said that if I didn't break things off between us, there would be_consequences_. I hadn't thought anything of his threat. That was my mistake, I realize now. When he brought you into the center of the encampment, bound and tied, I panicked. That is what gave everything away. I watched as my father took you before his lord, telling him that you and I were dating. When the Dark Lord turned to me and asked if this was true, I quickly denied, hoping that he would believe me and keep you safe with Lilly.' Draco shook his head sadly at his mistake. 'I should have known that that wouldn't have worked on him. I watched as the Dark Lord rose from his chair and began circling you like a hawk to its prey.

'He slipped your wand from your jeans pocket and used it to untie your bounds. As everyone watched, he continued to circle you after snapping your wand in half with one hand, and then laughed about how he had Harry Potter's Mudblood lover in his grasp. I had to use an immense amount of self control when he stopped behind you and put his left hand around your chin, pulling it up to expose your slender neck. You had shown such bravery that night that Godric himself would have been proud to have had you in his house. Unfortunately, there is no amount of courage that would be enough when it came to standing up to the darkest wizard of two ages. With a flourish of his wand from above your head, his hand still about your chin, the Dark Lord produced a long dagger with scalloped edges from the tip of his wand, a sacrificial dagger. Looking at me and forcing you to do the same with his left hand, he said, 'Take a good look, Mudblood. The last person you will ever see in this life will be the man that betrayed you.' Those words are forever branded in my memory.

'I know that a simple Memory charm would have rid me of those horrible memories years ago, but I don't deserve to live with out them there. I don't deserve it because I sat and watched, frozen, as the Dark Lord let go of your chin and stood back, just enough to grasp his dagger and plunge it to the hilt, deep into your lower back before you could turn around or run. I awoke suddenly watched in horror as he pulled the dagger out, covered in your impure blood and you started falling to your knees in slow motion.

'I heard screaming, but I couldn't understand any of it as I watched you continuing to fall in slow motion. I know I was running to you, but it felt like the world was moving in slow motion while I was trying to run as fast as I could towards you. You looked at me with tears in your eyes as your body hit the ground with a dull thud. When I finally reached you, I fell to my knees and hovered above you, unsure what to do. Huh, all those years of training my reflexes to a fine tuned machine, and when it matters most, I couldn't do anything!' Draco paused yet again as he remembered cradling Hermione's body to his, placing his hand on her abdomen wound from where Voldemorts dagger had pierced all the way through her petite body, feeling his dry, cold hands turn warm and moist with the blood of his wife that was spreading everywhere. Weeping for her and calling Hermione's name through his tears, he felt the same warmth and dampness that was on his hands, seeping through the knees of his robes.

_'Hermione! Stay with me, please!' Draco begged in a heart-wrenching sob as Harry Potter's battle with the Dark Lord raged around them._

_'Draco,' Hermione managed to whisper, sounding as if just that single word took every ounce of whatever strength she might have had left, tears flowing from the corners of her eyes. Catching his attention when she wiped the tears from his eyes, she continued, 'Please, take care of Lilly when I'm gone.'_

_'Hermione, please do not talk like that. You and I are going to see this war to the end, together! Then we can take care of Lilly together, forever!'_

_'Just promise me that you will continue on loving, living, SURVIVING. When she's old enough, please make sure that Lilly knows that I loved both of you more than anything.'_

_Draco began crying harder as she was saying those words. Choking on his tears that were forcing themselves to surface, Draco said scathingly, 'I didn't know that someone as powerful as you, who dodged spells and curses in battle after battle over the years, would be brought down by someone with a tiny blade.'_

_Hermione chuckled, but winced when such a simple movement caused her so much pain. 'Draco, please promise me. Give me your word, for I am not long for this world. Your word will give my soul peace.'_

_'Hermione! You must stop talking like that!' Draco whispered thickly as he watched the life began to fade from his wife's beautiful brown eyes before closing his own, trying to maintain his strength for this woman that he had loved for many years._

_'I love you, Draco. I always have and I do not regret anything, except that I didn't get to see my family or friends again, or see Lilly grow up. Tell everyone that I'm sorry I wasn't…wasn't st...ron...ger.' Draco opened his eyes and looked at the woman in his arms when he heard her string out the last word realizing what had just happened, he let out a sorrowful roar aimed at the heavens._

_'HERMIONE!!'_

'I remember now, as I sat there with your motionless form in my blood-soaked arms, that I cried and cried, begging for any fate or God that would listen, that they bring you back to me or take my soul with yours. Nothing is that kind though, I found. I rocked your lifeless form, vaguely aware of other cries of pain and sorrow. I found myself wishing that the earth would swallow me whole then and there, because nothing else seemed to matter any more. I think that I began to go crazy at that moment, because I started hearing your voice in my head, telling me to live for our daughter. '_Lilly needs you now, more than ever, my love. Please keep your word and live and care for her where I could not.'_ I looked down at you, thinking you would be looking back at me, only to find that you were still in the same state as before. I looked up and saw the last fleeting glimpse of your face as your soul moved on. 'I will always love you' I heard around me as if the wind was speaking to me.

'I placed your head on the ground carefully and placed my cloak over you so that no one would see you, before getting up and moving towards the Dark Lord and Harry who were dueling a hundred feet away from where you fell. I could see the flashes of wands as spell after spell were thrown at each other. I walked towards Harry's side, dodging casually as jets of light whizzed past. Keeping my eyes on Voldemort, I leaned in and said, 'The Elder Wand is yours, Harry.'

'Harry nodded. 'Dumbledore told me when Voldemort tried to strike me down earlier. Is Hermione safe?'

'I lowered my head, fresh tears forming in my eyes, 'She's dead, Harry.'

'I know, but is she safe? I watched Voldemort murder her.'

'Her soul is in a safer place and her body is hidden.' I said, wiping my nose angrily.

'Take her to the castle.' Harry had said, flinging an unspoken spell towards the man with the snake face.

'Not needing to be told twice,' I nodded my head as Harry faced his long time enemy with more bravery that could ever be expected from me when it came to doing the right thing.

'Your burial was two days later, after we found your parents in Australia and removed the powerful Obliviate that you had placed on them before seventh year. I was the one that told them that you had been murdered in front of mine and all the other Death Eaters eyes and that you wanted to apologize for not being stronger for everyone. I then told them that your soul was in a far better place than this physical plane of existence. After I told them that I was your husband, they met Lillyanna. She still hadn't a clue what happened or why she was with only me, but she was overwhelmed at meeting a new set of grandparents. They took to her almost immediately after the first critical shock. A five year old can be rather entertaining sometimes.

'Looking back at life now, I can't believe that I've managed to live thirteen years with out you. It's one thing that I didn't imagine possible, but somehow I've managed. It is because of Lilly, I'm sure. Because, even though she's in her seventh year and Head Girl, no matter how many times I look at her here at the manor or watch her sleep at nights, every part of her reminds me of you. That brings memories long since lost to time of when days were easier and more fulfilled.

'My darling Hermione, I have always loved you and I always will. I wait for the day when I can reunite with you so that I may keep my promise to be with you for eternity.

'All my love, Draco.'

With a flourish, Draco finished the letter and stared at it for a moment, waiting for the ink to dry, before folding it and placing the letter into an envelope and placing the wax Malfoy seal on the flap to close it, all his tears and memories enclosed within. Sighing, Draco looked at the invitation that was on his desk with the Hogwarts symbol emblazoned on the front, a smile forming.

Rising, Draco walked over to the mantle in his study and grabbed his favorite picture. It was the only muggle picture he owned, as per Hermione's request. She was perched on one of the chairs in her study at the manor, sleeping peacefully with a book laying on her lap, a baby Lilly also asleep on Hermione's chest.

"Well, Hermione. I know that you would have wished to be there in person, but this is as good as I can do." Draco said as he pocketed the picture and the letter to burn over Hermione's grave at Hogwarts. He then grabbed the small box that contained a half karat diamond solitaire necklace that was to be Lillyanna's graduation gift that he had purchased that morning. Walking out the front door, robes flying, out into the summer after noon, he aparated at the end of the walk, a large grin upon his face.

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